Cisco Eos Platform Delivers Online Social Experience for Consumers, Powerful Web 2.0 Platform for Media & Entertainment Companies

Software Platform Enables Media & Entertainment Industry to Deliver More Social and Personalized Online Experiences for Branded Content


LAS VEGAS, NV--(Marketwire - January 7, 2009) - At the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Cisco® (NASDAQ: CSCO) today announced the availability of the Cisco Eos™ hosted white-label software platform that allows Media & Entertainment companies to create, manage and grow online communities around their content. Cisco Eos is a powerful, integrated platform that integrates social networking, content management and site administration features into a single operating environment, allowing content owners to deliver immersive consumer experiences, while increasing revenue opportunities and reducing operational costs. Warner Music Group is the first entertainment company to use the Cisco Eos platform for artist sites from Laura Izibor (www.lauraizibor.com) and Sean Paul (www.allseanpaul.com).

Facts:

  • Creating "communities of content" - Consumers are increasingly using social networks to interact with communities of people with similar interests. With Cisco Eos, Media & Entertainment companies can more effectively create their own "communities of content" where online audiences and fans can interact with and around the content they love.

  • Integrated software platform - The Cisco Eos platform combines the interactivity of social networking, with analytics, and media and site management tools, which allow media companies to more effectively derive value from their online content and audiences.

  • Direct engagement with online audiences - Thirty-six percent of consumers report that they first seek their entertainment content and news directly from the branded site of their favorite show, movie, musical act, etc.(1) Rather than losing that audience to other online properties, media companies have the opportunity to engage and retain audiences by delivering an interactive and dynamic entertainment experience around their content.

  • Hosted model delivers efficiencies - Delivering the Cisco Eos platform as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) allows media companies to focus their limited resources on building compelling consumer experiences, rather than on the cost and complexity of building and maintaining their own Web platform.

  • Future integration for Eos - Cisco Eos uses a standards-based architecture that will allow it to be integrated in the future with other Cisco products and technologies, extending the online entertainment experience to multiple screens, including television and mobile devices.

  • Cisco Eos at CES - Cisco will discuss Eos and other new consumer products and initiatives during a press conference on Wednesday, January 7 from 1:00-1:45 p.m. PST at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Press, analysts and bloggers at CES are invited to attend the press conference located at Venetian Hotel, Venetian Titian Room #2206. Contacts not at the show can attend via a live webcast by visiting Cisco's CES 2009 Web site.

Supporting Quotes:
  • "Cisco believes that the network is the platform for a new generation of compelling consumer experiences that are more social, personal and visual," said Dan Scheinman, senior vice president and general manager, Cisco Media Solutions Group. "Cisco Eos leverages the power of the human network and enables Media & Entertainment companies to complement other online channels with an interactive, community-driven experience in their own branding. Media companies have the opportunity to deepen the relationship online audiences have with the entertainment content they love."

  • "Tapping into the Eos platform is part of our larger plan to leverage the innovation of key strategic partners to enable vibrant, direct and ongoing connections between fans and their favorite artists that encourage discovery and acquisition," said Michael Nash, Executive Vice President, Digital Strategy and Business Development, Warner Music Group. "The industry has seen a dramatic shift in the way consumers engage in the entertainment experience and we are exploring ways to partner with Cisco to leverage their technology platforms to create new opportunities to monetize that engagement."

  • "The Cisco Eos platform is a strategic new addition to Cisco's portfolio as it allows them to extend upon their capabilities in the areas of distribution and connecting consumers, by now providing the discovery element at the software layer," said Danielle Levitas, vice president, consumer and broadband markets, IDC. "For media companies and content owners and providers, the platform represents a purpose-built solution that will allow them to easily integrate multiple software categories onto a common platform that will allow them to scale the amount of content they can provide to consumers, and significantly increase the overall online consumer experience."

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About Cisco's Consumer Business
Cisco's consumer business includes home networking products, set-top boxes, media solutions and content delivery systems. Through collaboration with technology partners, service providers, content providers, retailers and consumer electronic device manufacturers, Cisco is expanding the Human Network to create an intelligent, end-to-end media-optimized network that extends from the content source to the consumer.

About Cisco
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(1) Cisco Executive Thought Leadership Research, Feb. 2008

Contact Information: Press Relations Contacts: Jim Brady Cisco Systems, Inc. +1 (408) 408 424 2150 jimbrady@cisco.com Analyst Relations Contact: Ben Culp Cisco Systems, Inc. +1 (949) 823-3787 beculp@cisco.com Investor Relations Contact: Matt Tractenberg Cisco Systems, Inc. +1 (408) 525 3170 matthew2@cisco.com

Dan Scheinman, senior vice president and general manager, Cisco Media Solutions Group The Cisco Eos software platform With Cisco Eos, Media & Entertainment companies can more effectively create their own 'communities of content' where online audiences and fans can interact with and around the entertainment content they love. Warner Music Group is the first entertainment company to use the Cisco Eos platform for artist sites from Laura Izibor (www.lauraizibor.com) and Sean Paul (www.allseanpaul.com).